May 5: It Was Worth the Cost

With severe weather predicted for Henryville, Indiana, Stephanie Decker picked her two children up at school before things got bad. Once they arrived at home, Decker saw a tornado heading straight for her house and rushed with the kids into the basement. After wrapping her son and daughter in a comforter, she covered them with her body.

Decker told The Courier-Journal that when the tornado hit, debris began falling. A large steel beam that fell on her leg nearly severed it completely.

Just as the tornado finally moved on, a second one hit, forcing Decker to endure even more of a battering. When that tornado passed, the children were able to get help for their ailing mother who had lost 40 percent of her blood due to a severed artery. Decker endured multiple injuries including the amputation of parts of both her legs. Doctors say she’ll be able to walk with prostheses.

Decker’s husband calls her a “hero.” And she believes her injuries were worth it, saying, “I love my kids…I wanted to do anything I could to protect them.”